Hn, Baka Kitsune
by Megami no Shi
Summary: PG for Yaoi. Hiei's response to Kurama's using the death plant on himself to beat Touya, and then getting beaten up by Bakken. My first YYH fic - Be nice. Now we're through Bui and Hiei's battle - Ch. 6 is a filler ... n.n'
1. Hiei's thoughts on Kurama

MnS: Hello! I was watching my Yuyu Hakusho DVDs, and I was watching the episode called 'Kurama's Stand' (Ep. #38; manga #11) where our favorite fox-boy was forced to use his death plant on himself to beat Touya, and then, he was beaten into a horrible state by Bakken. I had to write Hiei's response to this at night.

KnH: -_-' She loves HieixKurama Yaoi.

Kurama: Megami no Shi doesn't own Yuyu Hakusho, nor any affiliated characters, places, things, or concepts.

Hiei: Hn.

MnS: Uh….Right…^^;; I'll just, start writing then…he he he……::scratches head::

Hiei's thoughts on Kurama……

It was late at night; the kitsune and I were in the room that Kurama had been given to recuperate. I was sitting with him at his bedside. He was drifting in and out of conciousness, and right now he was out of it. The emeralds that shone so well in the light with any emotion that he felt were closed to me, and I couldn't see anything in them; I had no idea what was going on. No control. And I didn't like a second of it. Not knowing, not being able to tell if he was alright…Dammit! Why in the hell do I care?! I shouldn't care about him this much. He's a friend, nothing more. Kurama moved slightly, breaking my thoughts as he whimpered, rolling just so onto his arm so that it caused him pain.

"Kitsune? Don't move that way; you'll only disrupt your arm." I said quietly, helping him move back to the way he had been previously. His forest green eyes caught mine and his bottom lip trembled a little as he managed to say,

"H-Hiei? I-It hurts." his eyes clenched shut to the pain I was sure he felt. I didn't know what to do; I was torn. I had never consoled another creature in any of the three worlds in my 500 years of existence [1]; but I wanted to now. I wanted to take away the fox's pain so badly that it hurt. Doing all that I could think of, I gently grasped his uninjured right hand and said,

"It's alright fox. I'm here." I felt his hand tighten against mine just slightly, and he said,

"I-It's cold, H-Hiei." His lips began to tremble more violently, and I could see a small tinge of blue lining them. Using some of my ki, (if I could have spared more, I would have), I turned what I could into heat energy and fed it to him through his hand, letting him gain some warmth. His now half closed eyes widened and he said,

"No Hiei. You haven't enough ki to spare-"

"Hn. Baka kitsune. I have enough to keep you at a decent temperature. You don't need to catch cold while healing; you need to be in good form for our next fight." was all I said, cutting him off before he tried to make me take the energy I had given him back. He seemed, ready to argue, but then, thought better of it and instead closed his eyes with a slight sigh. Breathing slowed, I assumed he had gone to sleep, and so, went back to my musings, absently stroking a hand through his long red locks. _Why did you do it Kurama? You took that fight personally, and used a last ditch effort to get rid of Touya; and I could do nothing. Then Bakken - if Yusuke hadn't killed him, I would have. I don't care if we had to loose this tournament and answer to Tuguro; I would rather you be alright, _I thought as I looked at his somehow peaceful face. I have no idea why I'm acting this way; I think I might actually be genuinely worried about him. _But only because he needs to be well for the next phase of the tournament, _I quickly amended myself, though I knew that I lied terribly. I was the forbidden child of the koorime; I was used to being shunned, people not even wanting to come within three feet of me. I had learned to accept this over the many years that I was alive. Why then were these treacherous emotions surfacing now? I had squelched them long ago; why did this kitsune make them appear now. Looking down at him, I saw that a small smile graced his features. I also realized I had been running my fingers through the red silk that haloed his head. Stopping immediately, I watched the smile vanish from his face. I should probably go; I don't think I should be here. Kurama will be fine; he always is. 

Before I turned to leave, as an after thought I took all of the ki that I could spare, which wasn't a lot, and I let it leach into the fox. I had done this thrice already; any energy that I could spare went to the fox so that he could heal faster. I did it hourly when he was asleep and couldn't protest; almost like a medicine. It was all I could do to remedy his pain; my body was trying to make energy that I needed to defend myself in battle, I was fine physically. That energy could and would be spared for the kitsune. As I began to slip my hand out of his, Kurama's grip surprisingly tightened, and I heard him say in a tone just barely above a whisper,

"Please don't go Hiei. Stay here." I was about to tell him no, not to be ridiculous; what was to be gained if I stayed here or went to sleep in a tree outside, as I had the first night we had come here? But then, emeralds caught my dull red eyes, and a pleading gaze came from the fox. Hn. Why could I not refuse him anything?

"Hn. Baka Kitsune. Alright, I'll stay here." I finally said, crouching where I had been for the past four hours. There were for some reason no chairs in here, and rather than go and find one, I opted for sitting on the balls of my feet next to the bed, afraid that if I did manage to drag a chair through that small door, it would most certainly disturb the recuperating kitsune. Unfortunately, Kurama seemed to notice this.

"Hiei, why are you crouching there?"

"Hn. There are no chairs in this room baka. I didn't bring one because it would have woken you." At this he seemed, surprised, if you wanted an understatement. The next question was,

"How long have you been here Hiei?"

"Four hours and thirty-two minutes[2]." His eyes widened just a fraction; I could tell that this exchange was exhausting him. Then, he slid over just about as much as his battered body would allow and said,

"Come up here. I won't let you sit down there for the rest of the night." This time it was me who wanted to protest, but instead, I compiled, again, frighteningly, not able to refuse the fox anything. Kicking off my shoes, I slid onto the bed next to Kurama, and, being very mindful of his inured arm, laid on my back. I was surprised when Kurama slid closer to me, laying on his uninjured right arm; he was still shivering, and I couldn't spend anymore of my ki unless I wanted to fall unconscious. Slowly, thinking of no better way to keep the fox warm, as he already had two comforters and all the spare blankets that there were, I turned to my side and put my right arm around his waist, mindful of his left arm, and shared body heat with him. To my most utter shock, he scooted _closer_, rather than further away. _Of course he did; he's incoherent, just moving towards heat because he's cold,_ I thought, scolding my self for my thoughts. It just felt as if the kitsune had somehow……accepted me, in that gesture. Shaking my head to clear those thoughts, I was about to back to musing, but found myself unable to. Drifting to sleep against my will, I made sure that my body would keep giving access ki to the fox before I shut my eyes, sleeping for once, peacefully……

MnS: There, what did you think?

KnH: It was good ^_^

Hiei: I was so OOC it's not funny. I demand that you delete this writing. ::points katana at MnS::  
Kurama: Hiei, calm down. ::whispers something to Hiei::

Hiei: ::ears tinge pink……is he blushing!!??::

Kurama: Please R'n'R. This is a one shot, but still, it's nice to get feedback.

Footnotes:

1 - Does anyone know how old Hiei is? I guessed that he was about half as old as Kurama, but I have no idea……^^;;

2 - That's what time it is now. 4:32 in the morning……^^;; So, Hiei's been there for 4 hours and 32 min because I'm too lazy to think of a decent amount of time, though this fic was supposed to be set to have been happening around midnight. ^_^;; Yes, I'm a baka……I know……-_-'


	2. Kurama's Questions

MnS: I'm back!! I just saw the episode of Kurama vs. Karasu, and so, I'm ready to write a few chapters!! ^_^!!

KnH: Hiei, do you want to do the disclaimer?

Hiei: No.

MnS: But Hiei!!

Hiei: Leave me alone, baka onna.

MnS: :P Kurama, will *you* do the disclaimer?

Kurama: sure. Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-yu Hakusho or any of it's affiliated people, places, or things.

MnS: Thank you!! ::sticks tongue out at Hiei as she starts to type::

Chapter 2: Kurama's Questions

//

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"Come up here. I won't let you sit down there for the rest of the night." This time it was me who wanted to protest, but instead, I compiled, again, frighteningly, not able to refuse the fox anything. Kicking off my shoes, I slid onto the bed next to Kurama, and, being very mindful of his inured arm, laid on my back. I was surprised when Kurama slid closer to me, laying on his uninjured right arm; he was still shivering, and I couldn't spend anymore of my ki unless I wanted to fall unconscious. Slowly, thinking of no better way to keep the fox warm, as he already had two comforters and all the spare blankets that there were, I turned to my side and put my right arm around his waist, mindful of his left arm, and shared body heat with him. To my most utter shock, he scooted closer, rather than further away. Of course he did; he's incoherent, just moving towards heat because he's cold,_ I thought, scolding my self for my thoughts. It just felt as if the kitsune had somehow……accepted me, in that gesture. Shaking my head to clear those thoughts, I was about to back to musing, but found myself unable to. Drifting to sleep against my will, I made sure that my body would keep giving access ki to the fox before I shut my eyes, sleeping for once, peacefully……_

//

Following Hiei to the hallway outside of the now empty ring minutes after Yukina had come looking for him, I imitated him, leaning on the wall, hands in the white pockets of my pants. I had also been looking for him, finding him seconds before his sister had. The demon had been avoiding me for _some_ reason or another; I'm sure of it. At least, as sure as you can be with the fire demon. And so now, that is what's on my mind, along with a small interrogation for a small hi oni [1].

I think it has something to do with the night following my matches with Gama, Touya, and Bakken. At the time I had been barely coherent, falling in and out of blackness after being placed in a bed around four o'clock in the afternoon and not getting up until eight o'clock the next morning. Now comes the part where my suspicion grows it's roots from. Under normal circumstances, had I been left to heal myself, I'm not sure I'd have been on my feet, let alone able to defend myself by the semi-final match. Enter Hiei. The death plant had been doing it's job painfully well; it had been trying to suck all of the warmth and life out of me, and therefore, made me extremely cold. The first two times I had come to, someone had retrieved six spare blankets to add to my 2, and a second comforter. The third time I had awoken from the shock of freezing that my body was going through, I am sure, no matter how fuzzy the memory seemed, someone gave me whatever energy that they could spare in the form of heat alone. It had warmed my body down to my toes and straight through my bones, mostly removing the bulk of the effect of the death plant, though only for a short while. Dealing in heat alone; _that_ is Hiei's specialty.

I'm also sure that the few times that I had drifted into the coherent world that I had seen _someone_ there beside me; someone with a very familiar aura. It had for certain not been Yusuke or Kuwabara, because they hadn't gotten up until a few hours after I had, and the masked fighter had been nowhere to be seen. I asked Botan and Yukina if they had at all helped me to heal, and they both had responded with a confused 'no', and obviously Shizuru and Keiko could do nothing. Why is this relevant you ask? Well, for me to have healed so well and so quickly, someone had to have given me enough to sustain more than another B class youkai. When this energy was given, it wasn't all at once; it was given to me in 'doses' every hour on the hour, and I knew this because I had felt it. The pain recede, the death plant loose it's hold on my body little by little. I could still feel the warmth from the power - raw, igniting power - that had been given to me almost as fast as it cold be created. All ki has it's own little bit of a 'tweak' about it if you will; sort of like a signature, or a ningen fingerprint.

The only way for this much energy could be transmitted at a time, for me to physically feel it in my half to unconscious state, someone had to come in contact with my skin; even if only laying hand on my wrist or something of that caliber. But they had be within arms length. When I asked, I was told that no one had come even as near as my bedroom door for at least 16 hours, which is about how long I was out.

Of course, the energy had been readily accepted by my body, but it mixed with mine so well that it _must_ have been the energy of a demon; and besides, it wouldn't have taken so much ningen energy to accomplish what it had, and so, it wouldn't have been given to me every hour for sixteen hours.

Also, that would explain why Hiei had not been in top form for the semi-final match, when he should have been more than ready to take on the majority of our opponents.

So many fingers pointing his way; so many confirmations and yet…… I was still afraid to ask him about it. It was petty, I know, but there was a great reason for it. I had to be certain that it was true though, true that Hiei had helped me in such a self-sacrificing way; I had to hear him admit it himself without any provocation. Had to be sure, because I albeit with defeated spirits admit that I have a growing crush on the koorime. I've tired to ignore it and just be friends with him as always; I really have, but this development has stirred 'wistful thinking', and I either have to squelch it or confess to the fire demon. Either way though, I had to know why.

It had only been around half a minute that this had flowed through my mind in less than that, but I was so lost that I was surprised as his voice, in a more or less differential tone, cut through the slightly confusing, very depressing thoughts I had in the silence, and said,

"Hn. What do you want fox?" Closing my eyes and leaning back on the wall, I tried to figure out how to phrase this so that the smaller demon wouldn't get defensive when he learned that I recognized the charity that possibly kept me alive as his, and perhaps explain himself. Opening my eyes and looking up at the ceiling, I finally said,

"Hiei, you weren't in your best shape for the semi-finals yesterday." I decided that that was common and unsuspicious enough ground to start on.

"Hn. What's it to you fox? I'm alive, aren't I?" Hmmmmm. A general answer. He didn't make an excuse pertaining to where his missing ki had gone to, and if I thought about it for a second, that really wasn't his style anyway. If he didn't deny anything, that would make this encounter a whole lot easier on both of us. I answered with,

"I was just wondering why that was, because after Ruka healed your arm accidentally, you had around a day and a quarter to heal. That's 30+ hours, and it should have been more than enough to heal what was left of your injury and bring you back to full power at your recovery rate." This time, it took him a bit longer to come up with an answer.

"It's none of your business fox; what's done is done, and that match is over." And now, I had him. He turned to the left and began to walk away, but he only got about 5 steps before I said,

"I believe it becomes my business when it involves my health." That stopped him dead, and after a second, he cocked his head halfway around, looking to his right, and, half closing his eyes, he asked suspiciously,

"What do you mean, Fox?" Closing my eyes again, I smiled a half smile, the Youko blood in me showing past my ningen features for only a second before I looked at the fire koorime's profile and said,

"You gave me energy enough to recooperate for the first 16 hours that I was recovering from the death plant. I just wanted to know why." At this he half-smirked as he barely shrugged his shoulders and said,

"You and I both know that if you didn't receive any extra energy, you might still be unconscious now, and we needed at least 3 people at the semi-finals." He started to take another step as I said casually,

"Yes, but really, if you only gave me enough energy so that I could get by, then I shouldn't be able to do this." Turning, I faced the fire demon and held out my right had, palm up, and easily summoned some of the energy that I had been afforded that night. You see, I had kept it, and instead used my own to recover and to fight in the semi-finals; I sill had most of what was given to me then. And the energy manifested into it's proper form at it's release; a bright red, strong and stead flame. Barely flickering, I could feel the warmth, though it did not burn me; I had been able to do it since the morning I woke up. Not strong enough for an attack or anything of that calibur, as I didn't know how to manipulate it to make it do what I wanted, but enough for it to manifest and be seen.

Hiei didn't even need to turn around to sense it; I know that he did though, because his left foot, which was poised in the air, fell heavily to the ground, the 'thud' echoing through the hallway at a deafening tone. Relinquishing the fire and stopping the energy flow, I took a few steps toward Hiei, out of striking distance, but closer to him. Then, I said easily,

"You gave me enough energy to sustain another youkai of the same level as myself; surely you didn't need to spare that much." He still didn't say anything; he seemed, stunned, shocked if you will, and unable to speak. His body was rigid, as if ready for attack, though he knew that I would never; and so, what was he so afraid of? Taking myself away from my thoughts, I tried again to get him to say it himself. I had to hear him say it; I had to hear it from his mouth of his own free will.

"I just wanted to know why. You didn't recover to your full power as you should have, and it put you at a disadvantage in the ring." To this, he again remained silent; he barely breathed. Saddened slightly that he still refused to tell me the reason for his uncharacteristic charity, I attempted one last time.

"Please Hiei. Why would you do that to yourself?" then, I muttered half to myself, "especially for me, of all people." And then, he was gone. _Dammit! Just what I didn't want him to do, though I knew that eventually, he'd do it,_ I thought to myself, a tear manifesting in the corner of my eye. Turning angrily in the opposite direction and scrubbing the offending eye with the back of my hand harshly, I fled into the forest, where I could be among friends. I had to get out……

MnS: So, how was it?

Hiei: Hn.

KnH: It was alright……as good as the last one…

MnS; ^_^!! YAY!!

Hiei: Not that the last one was any good….

Kurama: A…hehehehe…. ::sweat drops and scratches head::

MnS: Well, fine then! We'll see what the reviewers think! R'n'R plz, and think I'll have another chapter up by Sunday, if all goes according to plan….^_^!!


	3. The Begining of the End

MnS: I'm back again, just like I said!!

KnH: Yep. We know.

Hiei: Great. Will the torment never end?

MnS: :P Kurama, will you please do the disclaimer again?

Kurama: ::nodds with an eye roll:: Yes. Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-yu Hakusho, or any of it's affiliated people, places, or things.

MnS: Thanx!!

Chapter 3:

//

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"Please Hiei. Why would you do that to yourself?" then, I muttered half to myself, "especially for me, of all people." And then, he was gone. Dammit! Just what I didn't want him to do, though I knew that eventually, he'd do it_, I thought to myself, a tear manifesting in the corner of my eye. Turning angrily in the opposite direction and scrubbing the offending eye with the back of my hand harshly, I fled into the forest, where I could be among friends. I had to get out……_

//

Hiei's POV

Yes, I have been avoiding the fox, and yes, it has been going well. That is, until he discovered me in the arena. I don't know why I stuck around; it was stupid of me. I could have been gone from that little round of question and answer, but something kept me there; something wanted to be around Kurama. I would almost be willing to say that I missed him, but that's utterly ridiculous; you can't miss something that you're sorry for being away from in the first place, and I was definitely not sorry that I wasn't around the kitsune. I wasn't. It was a simple fact. I did _not_ miss the fox. At all. Dammit! I don't want to be around him, so why in the hell do I feel like going to look for him right now?

Turning back to the ocean that I was standing on a rock and overlooking in the dim light of the morning, I tried to go back to my training; I had to do something, _anything_ to get my mind off the youkai. I had been training for two days to perfect the Kokuryu-ha, and I still hadn't come up with how to control it fully; it did what it pleased because it didn't _know_ me. Somehow, I had to get it to obey, and I wouldn't rest until I did. That's not a lie either; I've been up for 56 hours straight, and I'm pretty well exhausted, but I'm going to need the Kokuryu-ha for the finals. It's just a feeling that I have.

Concentrating my energy into my right arm, I decided to try summoning the creature again. I _had_ to perfect this; it was becoming an obsession. _And obsessions aren't good,_ I thought as a red-headed half fox demon come into my minds eye. _What the hell?! He's not an obsession!_ I thought, pulling my attention back to my arm. For some reason or another, I couldn't seem to assemble the amount of energy needed to even catch the dragon's eye, let alone bring it here. Growling, I concentrated harder, and still, my arm wouldn't take in the ki that it needed to do it's job. Eyes narrowing angrily, I thought savagely, _If you won't do what you're told, then you'll be punished._ And with that, the flame that ran through my blood and created my energy boiled out and onto the skin, creating angry looking boils and rashes in seconds, blood staining the now pink flesh. _There,_ I thought, _that'll teach you dammit._ And then, I realized I was talking to my arm. _Baka._ I thought to myself, attempting again to summon the creature, ignoring the sting that accompanied my arm's exertion……

Hours later, it was dark out again, though this time the sun had just set, and my arm had disobeyed me quite a few more times. I was going to try summoning again, when I felt a tremendous power down on the beach. Jumping down, I turned the corner just in time to hear Kuwabara say,

"…my totally fresh, bad guy slicin' and dicin' mega awesome super sword!" Walking forward, eyes flashing with the fire in my veins, I said,

"Do you think it's possible that you could shut-up?" I was sick of hearing the gorilla boast about something that wasn't worth even looking at.

"Hey Hiei." Urameshi said in response to my appearance; he seemed to not be surprised that I was there, which didn't bother me in the slightest; I of course didn't waste my breath answering him.

"You really shouldn't sneak up on someone who's holding the world's most powerful sword!" The gorilla was trying to impress those around him most ineffectively. I wasn't paying attention to him though; I felt a slight surge of yoki behind him, and immediately had the urge to run. _Kurama_.

"Eh, EW!! What the heck happened to your arm!?" The annoying sound crashed through my thoughts; I must have subconsciously stepped forward into the moonlight, and the gorilla had seen the state of my right arm. So it had pissed me of a bit; so what?

"It wouldn't obey when I gave it a specific command, so I decided it needed to be punished." I answered truthfully, looking down at the state of it. It didn't look _that_ bad. Just a mass of external welts and cuts from the elbow down. They would be gone by morning. The fool laughed nervously; I could tell easily that he was extremely perturbed from this answer. But, I hadn't time to pay attention to him; I was paying attention to the fox. Leaving was sounding like a better and better option.

"Way too much information for me. Let's stick to something safe like, where's Kurama?" I was done listening to the idiot, but almost laughed as he said that; almost being the key word. He hadn't realized that Kurama had been there through almost the entire conversation?

"Kuwabara, I've been standing next to you for some time now." A smirk broke out on my face that I couldn't stop as the moron jumped a mile. Kurama had gone completely unnoticed by the fool. "A bit nervous are we?" He looked a little more nervous than he had a minute previous, and said as a change of subject,

"Alright, now we just need to find the old lady." I closed my eyes and fought hard with myself not to laugh; the moron _still_ didn't know that Genkai was dead? What in the pits of spirit world was wrong with this ningen fool? And he was supposed to have some kind of power for sensing spirit energy? He didn't even know I had walked up, didn't even know Kurama had slid down the side of the hill and landed next to him… Yeah, the gorilla was completely a waste of time.

"Has anyone seen her?" He was still _on_ that subject? Hmmmm… he could be stupider than I thought; didn't he take the hint when no one answered that no one was going to? I guess Yusuke will handle this one; I was leaving before Kurama caught me alone. I don't need anymore sessions of cross-examination, thank you very much……

Jumping up a tree about an hour later, I decided that I would bandage my arm the next morning; it stung to touch it, and so, why bother? I did have to put a ward on it however; I planned to summon the dragon partially in the morning and hold it in this world, so that it would be easier to bring out in the finals. Hissing as my black cloak brushed roughly against my right arm, I shifted so that it wasn't touching anything but air. _Maybe my temper got the better of my judgment; I thought it would have healed to the point where I could at least bandage it tonight. No, I'm just being stupid._ I thought as I closed my eyes. I had come up with a way to control the dragon, shall we say…better than I had in the match I had with Zeru, and so, could afford to sleep for a few hours before the finals.

Closing my eyes, I was just about to drift off immediately when I heard a sound. No, not a sound. It was…I don't know. Something. A flash of yoki accompanied it. Very familiar yoki. It immediately made me thing of green, growing things. _Oh shit. That's Kurama, and he's not too far away,_ I thought, willing my overly exhausted body to move. Mental note; don't go 60+ hours without sleep at a time again. It makes escape… difficult. With much effort, I dragged myself into a standing position and jumped a few trees before, in my half awake state, catching my foot on a small protruding branch that I hadn't really taken notice of. Tumbling down, I was too tired to stop myself, and as an automatic reaction, I put out my right arm to break my fall. It was a very bad, very stupid reflex that I had yet to squelch, but it still happened. The yell that emerged from my throat enough to testify to that.

Rolling over and leaning against the trunk of the offending tree, I stopped only for a second to recuperate from that fall, but ended up not wanting to move again, my damned body mutinying against my mind. _You will soooooo be punished later dammit,_ I thought vengefully as my eyes slipped halfway closed; I'm more tired that I guessed. Dammit. Someone's coming, and I can't make myself move to save my life. Cursing as the footsteps came closer, I growled just about in audibly as a voice said,

"Hiei, is that you?" Just my Inari-be-damned luck; it was the fox. What the hell did I do to deserve this? My growl died in my throat though; Kurama really hadn't done anything. He was just going to find out about something that I didn't want him to find out about. Something dropped down very close to my right arm, and I moved it only slightly to get it out of his way, though I really didn't need to; he was being quite mindful of touching me. "Hiei, are you alright? You fell out of this tree, didn't you?" _How in the hell could he know that?_ I thought to myself, and then, voiced this.

"Why do you guess that fox?" I said. My voice was sleep edged and drugged with the grogginess of half-consciousness. Not a good thing.

"Because this lovely old tree Is grumbling about someone bending one of her thumbs backwards and then, hitting one of her feet. In other words, something snagged a small branch, and then landed hard on one of those roots that are sticking out of the ground over there." I gave him a half-hearted 'Hn' in reply, but that was all I could manage as I yawned in a loud, embarrassing fashion. Concern edged his tone as he asked,

"Hiei, how long have you been awake for?" Angry that he was trying to interrogate me again, I argued with my mouth until it finally cooperated into forming words.

"Hn. None of your business 'rama." Ok, that was completely pathetic on my part. What the hell was with me being so weak that I couldn't even stay awake for three days straight?

"Will you stop being so stubborn and give me a straight answer please?" he said in a slightly annoyed tone. Hopefully it would make him go away……

"Around 65 hours. Now go away so I can sleep." No such luck as he seemed to only want to ask me more questions that I really didn't want to be coherent enough to answer.

"65 hours?! Hiei, that's more than two and a half days! You really shouldn't sleep out here if you're resting for the first time in _that long_!" _That long_? He made it sound like it was an eternity; I've stayed up for more than a week at a time, two and a half days is like nothing to me.

"Hn. Leave me alone fox. I would be sleeping now if you weren't bothering me." I said coldly, turning my head in the opposite direction where than he was sitting. He shifted his weight slightly onto his knees, and the material of his clothing rubbed against my right arm. Hissing angrily, I jerked my arm towards my body, eyes snapping open for a second as I hit my head on the tree trunk. I really need some sleep; my movements are really disjointed. 

"Does your arm really hurt that much?" came the whispered question. Growling low in my throat was all the answer I had given him as I swallowed the coppery liquid that filled my mouth; apparently I had bitten my tongue when I hit my head, which only served to further sour my disposition. _Why is he asking anyway? It'll be most likely gone in the morning; why does he care? _I thought.

"Hn." Was the only sound that I could make, as I was drifting off bit by bit. Dammit, why am I acting so goddamned weak!? I should be fine after an hour or two of sleep, but I should be able to go a few more _days_ without it! Then, something touched my arm that at first stung, but then, felt……really, _really_ nice…something cool… Blinking my eyes and fighting off the sleep that I seemed to so desperately need, I looked over and discovered what this was.

The fox was spreading the crushed powder of some kind of seed over the boils and cuts on my arm; the abrasion of the powder was what stung, but the healing effect of the seed easily took that away. I couldn't find the strength to protest this, though I'm kind of wondering if I want to… I mean, of _course_ I do! What am I thinking? I don't need anyone's charity; I am capable of healing myself! But still, for some reason, my mouth couldn't take the words from my mind to protest, and my arm wouldn't take the command I gave to move; that would earn it a nice burn later.

"Why did you do this Hiei?" he asked after he had just about covered my entire arm with that greenish colored powder.

"Hn?" Was again the only sound my half coherent mind could force my mouth to make. I was really, _really_ close to falling asleep

"I thought you were joking when you told Kuwabara that you had done it to 'punish' your arm; I thought it was the effect of trying to summon the Kokuryu-ha. But, now that I see it, it has not trace of dark flames; at least, not enough that they could have caused the injury. Why did you do this to your arm?" Blinking my eyes so that I didn't fall asleep, I could only open them half way, and I simply couldn't think of what to tell the fox. I apparently couldn't tell him anything even resembling the truth, and my mind was too fatigued to come up with anything believable that I could convey through speech anyway; I could only come up with half uttered affirmative or non answers.

Black entered the edges of my half vision as objects that I saw doubled; I couldn't stay awake anymore, and I knew it. Stopping my fight, I fell into darkness that was usually called 'sleep'……

Kurama's POV

_He really hurt himself badly, and his fatigue is keeping his body from healing as quickly as it normally would,_ I thought as I asked him why he had done this. Looking down at him as I didn't receive an answer, I blinked. He was asleep. _Kurama no baka, of *course* he's asleep! He's been up for almost 2 ¾ days!_ I reprimanded myself. Finishing rubbing the powder of the seeds I had crushed between my fingers, I looked at his sleeping face. _Well, you can't sleep here; it's really not a good idea_, I thought as I picked him up. I used as much force as I usually needed to lift him, which wasn't a lot to begin with; but I stumbled and almost fell from the extra effort I seemed to use. Looking at him in disbelief, I thought _And how much have you had to eat in those same two and three quarter days, Hiei?_ Walking brusquely, I made it back to the room that I had to myself in less than five minutes, and Hiei hadn't moved since I picked him up.

Laying him down on the sole bed in the room, (he had been sharing the room with me, but his bed had been removed to accommodate for Shizuru, Yukina, Botan, and Keiko when they came, because he insisted on sleeping outside), I set to healing his arm. But the time I was done, it was around 10 o'clock, and it was looking much better than it had, due to his recuperation and my herbs that sped it along.

Yawning, I pulled my yellow over coat off and revealed the white pants and shirt underneath. Too lazy to change into real pajamas, I slipped off my black shoes and slipped in the opposite side of the bed as Hiei; I didn't want him to feel awkward when he woke up in the morning……

Hiei's POV

Light pricked my eye lids, and I turned away from it. I was warm and comfortable, and I wasn't at all ready to give that up. Sliding closer to the heat source, I got as close as I could to it…_Wait a seconds,_ I thought as I became a bit more coherent. _Heat source?_ Eyes snapping open, I blinked as I saw white. _Where the hell ham I!!??_ I thought as I jumped back quickly, landing on the ground. _The…ground…?_ Blinking, I looked around as the groggy effects of sleep tapered off. It looked like the room I was supposed to share with Kurama…but that would make Kurama… Looking up at the bed I had previously jumped off of, I felt myself blanch. Kurama was laying on the far side of the bed, and I could see where I had been laying. Kurama didn't seem to have moved an inch, but _I_ had at some point, seemed to have moved across the mattress to him, and he was the heat source I was so intent on getting to. _Dammit,_ I thought as I jumped up and flew out the window. The sun had just risen, and so, I had about 4 hours before we were to leave the hotel to go to the arena. Just enough time to lure the dragon out of hiding, trap it here, and keep it bound in this realm……

Three and a half hours later, I fell to my knees, breathing heavily, triumphant smirk plastered on my face. There. It had taken a while, but I had managed to trap it here and bind it with a ward, so that the stupid thing couldn't escape back into the pits of spirit world; proof of it being here was a long black shape that had appeared on my arm, trying to burn it's way out of the bandages. A tattoo of the dragon. Pulling the binding tighter still, I almost cut off circulation as I knotted it off. It was done; I had completed what I wanted, and for now, it was good enough. Laying my head on the ground and closing my eyes for a second, I relished in my victory. I could feel the darkness coursing through my arm; it pulled and raged at the bandages that held it with a special ward, made by me just for this specific task.

Standing, I made my way back to the hotel to put on clean clothes; the shirt I had had had been incinerated by my attempts at calling up the dragon, and the pants that I wore were still the ragged ones from the semi-finals. Around ten seconds later, I sat in the window of the room Kurama and I 'shared'. He didn't seem to be in the room at all, thank Inari. Going to the dresser that sat across the room, I pulled out my only other shirt and pants, wanting to take a shower before putting them on; the blood that was caked across my chest and arms from the dragon's wrath not setting very well with me, and the bandages would be able to take the water; they were protected enough that I wasn't going to worry about it.

Unfortunately, as I made my way to the bathroom door, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going; I was more or less trying to remember how to use a ningen 'shower', when my foot caught on something and I sailed into the slightly open door, hitting the floor with a thud. Blinking and looking down at what I tripped over, it looked like a pile of while and yellow cloth. Cursing as I stood up and rubbed my head, I realized that the shower in the bathroom was already on, and there was steam shrouding the entire room. Blinking again (I seemed to be doing that a lot lately) I wondered what was going on; that is, until I realized the dull droning noise I was blocking out to think was the sound of water running. Looking towards the sound, I immediately stopped dead. Red hair. Pale skin. That's all I saw. Kurama was taking a shower…He hadn't noticed me because he was washing his hair…… immediately, I was gone……

About half an hour later, I was clean and dry and ready to pretend that I hadn't walked/fell in on Kurama taking a shower. Standing at the door to the hotel, ready to leave, the four of us stepped out, and Urameshi, who was more than ready to start, said,

"It's time to kick some ass." The gorilla agreed with him, and Kurama nodded. I did nothing but smirk, a small 'hn' sneaking past……

TBC……

MnS: So, how was that?

Hiei: Hn.

Kurama: ::covers mouth as he re-reads shower scene:: ::chuckles slightly::

Hiei: ::glare::

MnS: ^_^ I thought it was a nice touch. R'n'R, and I'll get the next chapter up

KnH: The next subject are the final fights: Kurama vs. Karasu and Hiei vs. Bui.

MnS: ^_^ They'll be up soon!!!


	4. Kurama vs Karasu and Hiei vs Bui

MnS: I'm back, whether you like it or not.

KnH: So am I.

Hiei: Hn.

Kurama: As I've previously stated, Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-yu Hakusho

MnS: Thanx 'Rama-chan!!

Chapter 4: 

//

__

About half an hour later, I was clean and dry and ready to pretend that I hadn't walked/fell in on Kurama taking a shower. Standing at the door to the hotel, ready to leave, the four of us stepped out, and Urameshi, who was more than ready to start, said,

"It's time to kick some ass." The gorilla agreed with him, and Kurama nodded. I did nothing but smirk, a small 'hn' sneaking past……

//

Hiei's POV

Though there was a slight complication concerning the fifth member of our team, but that was sorted after a while, though not in a very promising way. The first match went to Kurama and Karasu, and I didn't really like that match-up. There was something…sadistically weird about Karasu, and I hadn't gone to see him fight, so I didn't know what he was capable of.

As the match went on, at first, he had the upper hand, but Kurama eventually became the bandit, Youko Kurama, and everyone thought from then on that he had the match won. I was pretty confident in him as well, until Karasu escaped from his demon ojigi; then, I realized we were going have a problem on our hands if Kurama didn't do something.

He couldn't, however, because he was soon to change back to his ningen body. Karasu took advantage of this, using his bombs to toy with Kurama until I saw red, and was about ready to climb into the ring and rip his head off, forfeit or not. When Kurama was down on the ground, I was positively _itching_ to take a chunk out of Karasu, but the kitsune beat me to it, destroying him with a plant that drained most of his life energy; he barely had enough to keep himself breathing.

But what burned me to the core, was the fact that that match was called as a point for Team Tuguro. I felt my energy flare in my anger, and the dragon, which was still pulling at my arm, fed on my anger, growing strength and trying to escape. Calming down, I watched Urameshi help Kurama off of the stage. The gorilla started on his damn stupid moral speech, yelling at the audience, and the elder Tuguro told us that he'd wish for our deaths. This rose a growl in my throat, and when I was sure Kurama was safe and out of the ring, and also, still _breathing_, I said to them,

"Want to know what I will wish for when we beat them?" I bared my fangs slightly at the thought of what I was going to say; I was tired of all the unfair rulings pitted against us. That should have been _Kurama's_ match, and they all knew it dammit. Continuing when I had Tuguro Team's attention,

"The bloody death of every member of that corrupt tournament committee so that I'll never be pulled into one of their carnivals again." It was only part of the truth, but a reason had to be given. I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on; I was watching Kurama out of the corner of my eye. I had enough sense to realize that the one who had just stepped up was Bui, the one who wore all the armor. Sizing him up, I turned to Urameshi and said,

"Yusuke. I planned on taking the thug with the sunglasses for myself, but after what he did to Genkai, I believe vengeance belongs to you." He looked surprised as he uttered his thanks; I had truly wanted to take on the younger Tuguro, but it was only right that Yusuke kill him in revenge. Going to the ring, I took an extra milisecond to just barely brush a hand against Kurama's neck, giving him a boost of extra ki so that he could at least stand. Then, when I stopped on the ring floor, I continued,

"But this thug will do just as well." Walking forward, I ignored the fool's comments and waited for that annoying referee to begin the match. She said, to my most utter annoyance,

"Measuring at four foot ten without his hair, Hiei. At nine feet, Bui." That other referee from the first matches, Koto, I think, though I don't much care, said,

"Wow, nine feet, that's tall, and it's more than enough man to go around ladies. Then again, Hiei has proven on numerous occasions that kick-ass things come in short packages too! I have absolutely no idea…" at that point, I tuned her annoying voice out, paying all my attention to this 'Bui'. Eventually though, she started the match.

At first, it was like a hit and miss match; he tried to hit me with tiles from the stadium floor, and pretty much, missed. It only served to make me more angry. I was already pissed off about the ruling the committee gave Kurama, and the fact that Bui wasn't making any effort to fight me, well, that just made my anger soar, and with it, my yoki. I physically had to restrain the dragon it wanted out so badly; it was madly trying to devour my arm yoki first.

Finally, Bui took off his armor, and showed his real power, which, though strong, was no match for the dragon, or so the dragon thought as it ripped against the bonds, attempting and just barely failing at getting free. After dealing with a few meager attacks, Bui finally provoked me into releasing it, saying,

"Time is wasting, let's go ahead and finish." He had said one word to many to me, and that would be his downfall.

"Quiet fool. I don't need to be told to hurry up; it's in my nature." Tearing the ward off of my arm, I unwound the bandages slowly.

"And now, then end." I said, as I removed the warded bandages. The dragon ignited on my arm, sending a shiver through the muscles there; it was free, and it was quite pleased about it.

"It's been pulling at the bandages for sometime. I couldn't hold it for long." I said, and laughed slightly at the thought of what was to come to this poor fool who angered me.

"You're the next sacrifice to the Kokuryu-ha." A whirl of black energy surrounded the ring, deflecting small flames of energy throughout the stadium, the dragon growing as the rest of it began to come into this plane of existence. I had to focus on the flames; releasing them now would relinquish my control of it, and the dragon would run rampant in the stadium, killing all who possessed any kind of spirit energy.

My aura exploded with power, and I could feel it in every fiber of my being; from the tips of my toes to every strand of hair, ki rippled through and around me. I focused only on the energy, controlling it, and my opponent, who stared at me patiently, almost as if he knew this were coming and he knew how to stop it. The problem was, _no one_ could stop a spirit world dragon or change it's course; once released, there was trouble for any and all in it's path.

"You ready?" I asked as finally, the dragon was almost to completion; just a few more seconds… Finally, the energy was there, and the tattoo on my arm sent red-hot sparks shooting up it as the mouth opened, ready to devour everything in it's path.

"Take this! Ensatsu Kokuryu-ha!! The energy exploded from my arm, ripping the dragon from my arm in a huge explosion of it's raw power. Heading straight for Bui, I realized something strange; I could still feel the strange warp of darkness in my arm, as if the dragon still inhabited it. As if, it didn't want to leave me completely. I was stunned only for a second as Bui caught the dragon and stopped it; I had never heard of it being done before, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. Pulling as much of what was left of the dark flames in my arm using my own ki, I yelled,

"I hope you don't think that dragon is completed!" and with that, threw the rest of the black fire, or at least, all that I cold gather, into the back of the dragon, attempting to complete its form and incinerate the fool. It didn't fry Bui, but it did enable the dragon to pick him up and take him around the arena, and ultimately, through the roof of the stadium. It crushed him to one of the twin peaks that sat outside, and I followed it up to get a better look, standing on part of the half taken down roof. As I watched, I thought for sure that Bui had been eaten, and I watched on, waiting for the dragon to circle in the sky, having nothing else in it's path to destroy. But as I watched, the impossible took place; the dragon was forced _back to me_. _This is impossible,_ I thought, too shocked to move. No one could re-direct the course of the Kokuryu-ha; it simply couldn't be done.

The searing pain that ripped across my flesh proved me wrong was proof enough that Bui had done the unthinkable. The flames that made the creature up ripped and burned and tore……but this was ridiculous. _I_ was the creator, _I _was the one who had energy enough to summon this creature to this realm, and I'd be damned if I was going to let it eat me. Fighting back with my energy through the haze of pain that clouded my vision, my ki burst into flames around me, protecting me from the spectral flame of the creature. Fighting with everything I had, I opened wide my jagan, using it to it's full potential, adding all the energy that I possibly could to my assault; I wasn't going down at the hands of my own finishing move.

Then, something strange happened. My flames began to coat the dragon, and, with an explosion of red and black ki that was manifested into an inferno, the flames were sucked into my jagan. It burned as nothing I'd ever felt before; it hurt too much to express, but only for a second. I would have sworn I was dead because the ki that I absorbed exploded into raw yoki - a blinding flash of blue - and I was thrown down to the ground, and I hit the stadium floor hard. I felt energy flowing through me; energy that I had never felt before, and the next words I spoke; they could hardly be said to be mine. It was as if something else spoke through my voice.

"This brings up my next attack. It's a little different." Looking up at Bui's astonished face, I smirked. _Don't underestimate me Bui,_ I thought to myself.

"Explain this." Came Bui's trembling voice from across the ring as he moved as if to take a step back. Holding a hand out, I realized that any injury I had was recovered; my energy restored to it's maximum and beyond. I was stronger by tenfold of my normal strength. I took a step forward, ignoring all outside comments; I was intent on finishing off Bui once and for all, and my smirk only grew as he backed up with my step. My voice came as a whisper with what I said next,

"Countless centuries. Countless masters trying to harness the power of the Kokuryu-ha. Only I have had the courage, the strength, and the abandon to realize it's glorious potential. I have the power of the black dragon, because now I am the dragon." Energy flaring, my power was nothing like before; it was endless, the strength of the dragon fused with my flames created an unstoppable force. The fear in Bui's eyes told me that he would do something desperate; I was not disappointed. As he jumped into the air,

I muttered,

"Right." Not moving to do anything, not even defend myself, I watched as he came down at me and landed a punch squarely on my left cheek. I felt nothing but a light tingle, and my head moved with the hit only out of instinct; it wouldn't have done anything otherwise.

"Nice." I said as I turned to meet Bui's eyes again; there I saw a fear which thrilled me to the core. I wanted nothing more than to end his miserable life because of this display of fright alone. He launched a frantic attack on my body, but again, I felt nothing. Barely even a tingle of my flesh. As I landed on the ring from his precious attack, I rose to my feet and caught his fist in my hand, which was glowing with his life energy. My hand seemed to know what to do as it drew all that could be spared from him, leaving him completely vulnerable, and then, taking it as a power up for myself.

"Come now, can't you even test me?" I asked, staring him down. I wasn't even breaking a sweat. Drawing the energy I had taken from me in my right hand, along with a good helping of my own, it manifested into a sphere in my palm, and I didn't even have to touch him with it to repel him into the air. I went up after him, and I could feel the dragon edging me on, flowing with me as I finished him off with a hit straight to the jaw that sent him into the seating of the stadium. Following him down, I had every intent on killing him as I thought to myself, _pathetic waste of space_.

"Finish." I heard his weak voice from the ground. Looking carefully at him, my only answer was,

"Hn?" He continued however,

"The firt time Tuguro beat me, he told me I had the potential to get stronger. He was right. It took someone like him to show me how weak I was. He kept me at his side while I trained hard to kill him. And I know I reached my max. But, every time I would get stronger, so would he. I'm sure it was just bait to keep me improving. Now you've beaten me, what's the point? Come on; hurry up and kill me." I couldn't believe that he was actually trying to tell me what to do. _No one_ told me how to live my life or what do. Turning from him, I said,

"No. If you wanna die, kill yourself." And with that, I went back to the ring on the eighth count. After I landed and stood still, I turned back to Bui slightly and said,

"I don't take orders; especially from those I beat." Smirk in place, I waited for Juri to announce my victory. Jumping down from the ring, my legs began to shake, an all of a sudden, a wave of overwhelming exhaustion came over me. The fool was being just that - a fool - when I walked over to them, and suggested something about me taking on the rest of the team for them, to which I replied,

"That's against the rules now, you Cretin. Besides, my attack is expired." Urameshi and the fool blink at me and ask in unison,

"Expired?" Eyes drooping slightly, I hated to have to sleep with _them_ to watch my body, but I had to explain, rather than just drop on the floor without them knowing what the hell was going on.

"I don't know if your brains can imagine it, but this attack drained a great deal of my energy." Pausing to yawn as my eyes won the battle for closing halfway, I continued, "I'll require some hibernation to get it back. Think you can manage to find a safe place for my body where it won't get stepped on?" I barely registered what Urameshi said next; it was getting so hard to keep my eyes open…

"Did you say hibernate?" is what I'm pretty sure Urameshi asked, as if I had been speaking in a foreign language…maybe I had been……I hadn't lapsed back into the makai common-tongue again, had I?

"Fancy word for being lazy." That was most definitely the fool, and, sending him the best glare I could fathom, I realized that I didn't have the energy to start arguing with him. Continuing as quickly as I could before I couldn't stand any longer, I said,

"Listen to me as closely as you can you two. I'm trusting you against my better instincts only because I have no other choice. Take care of the Tuguro brothers. If I wake up and we've lost, I swear I'll…kill…you…all…" as I finished my sentence, my world went black as the exhaustion took over me. I could have fled the arena and found a tree to sleep in, I suppose, but if nothing else, I'm vaguely certain that Kurama would make sure nothing potentially dangerous happened to my body……

MnS: So, how was that!!??

Kurama: Another good chapter, I'd say.

MnS: ^_^!! YAY!! 'RAMA-CAHN LIKED IT!!!

Hiei: Hn,.

KnH: R'n'R please, another chapter up soon!!!


	5. Recuperation

MnS: I'm back!! ^_^!!

Kurama: Megami no Shi doesn't own Yu-yu Hakusho

KnH: Kurama's POV now!! 

MNs: ^_^ Yep!! Here I go!!

Chapter 5: 

//

__

"Listen to me as closely as you can you two. I'm trusting you against my better instincts only because I have no other choice. Take care of the Tuguro brothers. If I wake up and we've lost, I swear I'll…kill…you…all…" as I finished my sentence, my world went black as the exhaustion took over me. I could have fled the arena and found a tree to sleep in, I suppose, but if nothing else, I'm vaguely certain that Kurama would make sure nothing potentially dangerous happened to my body……

//

"You've gotta hand it to him. When Hiei's feeling serious about something, he really lets you know." I barely heard Yusuke say anything at all as I looked down at the now sleeping fire demon. Why had he trusted us enough to fall asleep _in out presence_? He could very well have gone into the forest, cloaked his yoki, and not said another word. But instead, he chose to stay here…

"With this technique mastered, his power is overwhelming indeed; we'll have to stay on his good side." I said with a slight smile. The unpredictable fire demon was now at ten-fold his normal maximum power level, and that was frightening in itself. I could tell that Kuwabara agreed with that, because he was pretty well ready to bolt when Hiei had turned this way and jumped out of the ring.

"Hell, he didn't say how long he'd hibernate. Maybe we'll all be dead when he wakes up and it won't be an issue." Yusuke said, looking to Hiei, who was propped up on a rock and snoring soundly. I knew that he had to be pretty well 'under the blanket', because Hiei _never_ snored; this was a little known fact. He was a light sleeper, and light sleepers do not snore. He really was exhausted. I did something that I don't usually do next; I tuned out the other's conversations, focusing on sitting still and the heavy sleeper across from me. Again, he had given me energy; not much, but enough to make me coherent and able to support my own weight. Again, I didn't know why, and again, I was more than a little perturbed about this development. He hadn't answered my question before, and I hadn't had time to ask him when I found him the other night. Which reminds me, I was going to ask him if he had been in the room in the morning after I had gotten in the shower; I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on (hot water is a wonderful thing) and I thought I felt a flare of his ki there, though when I looked, the doorway was empty, if not slightly more ajar than I thought I had left it……so many thoughts running rampant in my mind, giving me a slight headache. Bringing my hand up to my temple, I realized that Yusuke was saying something to me about going to the locker room and trying to decide who should be the one to touch Hiei, because what if they were fried as one of his uncanny 'reflexes'? At this I had to smile as I stood; I was actually feeling strangely good because of that very nice, warm energy that was now surging through my veins.

"You three can go get some fresh air if you like; I'll take Hiei to the locker room." I said, bending down without a second thought and hoisting the fire demon onto my back, again using too much strength; he was still lighter than I was used to him being. Turning to the door, Yusuke asked me if I was sure.

"Yes; It'll be no trouble. I'll just lay him down in the locker room, and read a book." I said with a smile, half turning towards Yusuke. He nodded, slightly surprised, and let me go on my way. Walking through the doorway, there were a few low class demons in my way who looked as if they might start trouble, but I let my yoki flare with the extra energy that Hiei had given me, which warned most of them off. One particularly unintelligent one came up to me and stopped my journey. Looking up, I saw that it was a yokai with dark green and wrinkled skin and three yellowish horns on his head. He was about a foot taller than I was if I stood on my toes, and currently he was looking at me in an unsettlingly sly way.

"You're Kurama, from the tournament, right? Why don't you drop shorty and come spend some time with me?" was what he said when he realized he had my attention. Rolling my eyes, I side-stepped him, not wasting my time telling him off; Hiei's body temperature was decreasing ever so slightly, and I didn't like that. An arm appeared in front of me, halting my progress and further irritating me as the demon said,

"I'm only going to ask once more nicely; put dragon-boy down and join me, or suffer the consequences. It's your choice." I was steaming under the collar, and then I realized something; there were about five other demons in this hallway, and they were all in this section, surrounding Hiei and I. I almost growled in the back of my throat, but that was too Hiei-esc for me, so, I opted for saying,

"Did you not see my battle with Karasu? If you don't want to end up like him, I suggest you let me pass immediately." My rose whip appeared as if to further my warning, snaking from my hair because my arms were supporting Hiei. It didn't seem to bother the one standing in front of me, as he didn't move; he either didn't see the weapon, or else, didn't think it was as sharp as demonstrated frequently throughout the tournament. If the latter was the truth, then I was here to make a believer out of him. Lashing out with it easily, I took his head from his shoulders; he wasn't even worth the time to see if he intended to fight with me or not. Two more of the ones from the shadows came at me from behind, and my whip took them out much the same way. Three small seeds of my own design flashed from a hand, and the last three were gone with a small flash of red light as their hearts exploded. Continuing on my way, I stumbled slightly; that had taken a bit more yoki than I had meant to expend.

Making it to the locker room without any more resistance other than my own fatigue, I laid Hiei on one of the beds gently and frowned slightly; his temperature had dropped again, probably in some unconscious attempt to conserve yoki. Summoning up the flame that I still had, and had grown stronger because of the small donation I had been given after my match, I gave the energy back to it's creator, smiling slightly as the warmth from the energy brought the normal bit of trivial color back to the youkai's flesh. Making sure that the door was locked - we didn't need any more interference from any rogue demons who were cross with our progress, and Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Koenma had keys - I sat on the bed next to Hiei's, letting my eyes slip closed as I leaned against the wall…

Blinking awake, I looked at the clock. _Three hours have passed? Already?_ I thought as I looked over to the bed where I had laid the sleeping fire demon. Yep, he was still there, sleeping soundly as ever. Looking around the room, I realized that no one had been in here since I had arrived with Hiei; there were no traces of any other spirit energy or yoki present in the room, and their hadn't been for a long time. Retrieving the first aid kit that I had put in here before the matches, I mentally reprimanded myself for falling asleep before I had tended to the sleeping hi oni's wounds.

Stretching as I sat down on my knees next to Hiei's prone form, I opened the small blue tin box and removed the roll of cotton bandages from it, proceeding to close it after that. Finding a seed that had extremely potent healing properties, I decided that it might have been a good thing that I had slept for a while; I had recovered enough energy to manipulate my plants, which I demonstrated to no one in particular as the seed was tossed out the window and made to grow with a slight boost of ki, turning it into a large green leafy Makai plant. Vines slithering into the room through the open window, it sat still as I patted one of its leaves gently; it was a very agreeable creature. Apologizing to it a few times, I proceeded to take one of its leaves, though it didn't really complain; like I said, it was a very agreeable plant. 

It turned back into a seed shortly after, and came back through the window in a reverse throw. Turning back to Hiei, I drained some of the milky liquid that was in the leaf that I held and then, set the green appendage down, rubbing the liquid on my palms and then, rubbing it into the angry looking burns on Hiei's arm. I was quite glad that he wasn't awake, because this nectar, although potent in healing, was not the most pleasant feeling thing to put on an open wound; it stung something terrible when exposed to raw flesh.

Finishing with that, I smiled to myself as I watched the afflictions disappear slowly from view; perhaps Hiei would wake up sooner now because he didn't have to use his energies to heal his arm. One could only hope. Shifting my position and turning around, I leaned my head against his bed, not wanting to get my book out, but not daring to leave him alone to go and do something else; he apparently couldn't defend himself, and I wasn't about to leave him unprotected [1]………

Another two hours later, Koenma, Yusuke, and Kuwabara came into the locker room by way of unlocking the door, and were just hanging out here. Soon after, Shizuru, Keiko, and Botan came in, and Shizuru spoke with her brother, though I didn't much pay attention to everything that was going on; I was watching Hiei for any signs of stirring. Soon after Shizuru stopped yelling at Kuwabara, and Kuwabara noticed Yukina, there was a jolt in the ground, as if a small earth tremor. Kuwabara and Yusuke ran out, and didn't come back after a while, and Yukina, Botan, Koenma, and Shizuru went to go find him. Now it was about , and I pulled out a book, deciding I had to do something to keep my mind off of my friend's condition. However, anon, Koenma returned and told me that the noise was the younger Toguro brother, and he was carrying the ring from the other stadium, rather than having the tournament committee fly in a plane to carry it to the stadium. I nodded vaguely, pleading exhaustion, not really wanting to speak with anyone in particular, except the one who was sleeping a few feet from me. Turning back to my book, I didn't get that far as I noticed that Hiei was stirring. Ruby eyes blinked open, and his head turned, landing on me. Smiling, I said,

"Ah, you're finally awake?" He sat up in a slightly disjointed fashion, and slightly winced, the first words out of his mouth demanding information, which was exactly as I suspected it would be.

"Where am I? How long have I been out?" Not surprising that he asked that first, seeing as how he had dropped in the stadium, and was now in the locker room.

"We're in the locker room, and you've been hibernating for a little over six hours." I chose the terminology that he had in the ring, not deciding what else you could really call it besides sleeping, which might have made him a bit angry. He turned and sat off the edge of the "bed" he was on as I said this, and exclaimed.

"Six hours? well who won the tournament!?" Smiling at this little display of shock, I answered quite calmly,

"I'm afraid I can't answer that one. Nothing's changed since you were last up. Yusuke and Kuwabara got bored and went for a walk." I recalled this bit of information that Koenma had supplied me with a little while ago. Hiei stood, and, baling a fist, he shouted,

"You're not making sense!" Opting to clarify rather than have the fire demon destroy half of the locker room with his mounting ki, I said,

"It's taken time to organize since you leveled half the stadium. I hear they were going to fly in a carrier plane from the mainland to transport the ring from the old stadium. But, Toguro carried it on his back, so we can begin shortly." From the look on his face, Hiei hadn't followed more than half of what I said to him.

"What?" He was confused, and I could tell that he was most definitely half asleep, as his eyes had an almost undetectable sheen of glaze coating the red iris, which told any beholder who cared to look that closely that Hiei had just woken up. Before I could say anything else though, Koto's voice sounded from the PA system, 

"I've just received the official word. The ring is now in place, and we'll be ready to start in thirty minutes. Please make your way to the seats in an orderly fashion. And Juri, if you can hear this, get over here!" Turning to Hiei, who was looking at the loudspeaker, I stood and said,

"Shall we go Hiei?" He looked at me for a curious second, and then nodded the affirmative, saying,

"Yeah." Exiting the locker room, I had forgotten Koenma was there until I saw him standing behind me. I let Hiei go in front of me, and Koenma let me go ahead of him. Making it to the arena, I was ready to watch the next fight progress……

TBC……

MnS: I have to buy the next DVD to find out what happens, and to do that, I have to save $26.… @_@ I'll never be able to…

Kurama: Don't you have an allowance?

MnS: Yeah, but ¾ of it goes to X-mas presents savings, and then I'm only left with $5 a week. It might be a while before I update again. It'll probably be a Hiei POV, though I might do a Kurama……depends on which fits it better…

KnH: R'n'R, and maybe it will inspire Megami no Shi to save her money for another YYH episode… ^_^!

Footnotes: 

1 - A little bit over-protective are we Kurama? ^_^


	6. Unbalanced Kisses

MnS: Well, I finally bought the DVDs!

KnH: Oh, this chapter really isn't a chapter; the next chapter's about half written. It's just that the ending theme, 'Unbalanced Kisses', has awesome lyrics, and Megami thought as a treat she'd write this short HxK to it's lyrics and just stick it in here… --'

Within the broken mirror,

I clearly see your reflection.

Tears roll down your face,

Tears roll down your face,

As your finger traces the edge

Of the new moon.

Darkness. So dark… what's going on…? I… I can't see… oh wait. What's that… a gray light. Moving towards it, I saw that it was a window. _Not a window… a mirror…_ I thought as I moved closer. Something red was running down it's surface, and the mirror was cracked, rivulets veining out from one spot about my chest level, as if someone had punched it. Looking past the blood on the broken glass, I saw a reflection on the still smooth section of it. It was a small, dark figure, shrouded in shadow and looking out a window. A pale hand was in my line of vision, rivers of blood and cuts on the back telling me that this was the hand that had destroyed this thing I looked through … this broken mirror.

The index finger was just barely touching the glass, tracing something on it, blood leaving a crimson trail behind. Eyes straining, I saw it was a dark circle, as if the remnants of the new moon in the sky, though there were no stars. Looking harder as the darkness thickened, my eyes widened in realization; reflecting in the glass of the window were two glowing almond shaped red eyes, each with a black river running from them … black tears … and a small, marble shaped stone rolling across the windowsill …

Who is that I'm calling out to?

I can see you walk away from me.

Time and time again…

Time and time again…

You will find me, knocking at your door 1

Hn. What the hell…? Who's that in front of me? What's going on. Is that … me? What in the - what am I doing? The image of me was younger, perhaps only a hundred or so, and I stood facing someone who's back was to me. This person began to walk away, red hair swaying gently as he moved, fading quickly from view. This seemed to bother the image of myself as it took off after him, screaming something unintelligible to my ears as a tear streamed down his face. _What's going on? Who is that I'm yelling for …why am I crying…?_ came my confused thoughts as I looked on. Then, the surrounding darkness that was fended off by some unseen light source that deepened, and as I watched myself run, I saw that I was soon jumping into a tree, sitting outside of a very familiar window, watching the red-headed fox doing some homework, and then, as it was raining, I knocked on the suspiciously closed window, asking for access that was granted with a smile … …

The image of me was younger, perhaps only a hundred or so, and I stood facing someone who's back was to me. This person began to walk away, red hair swaying gently as he moved, fading quickly from view. This seemed to bother the image of myself as it took off after him, screaming something unintelligible to my ears as a tear streamed down his face. came my confused thoughts as I looked on. Then, the surrounding darkness that was fended off by some unseen light source that deepened, and as I watched myself run, I saw that I was soon jumping into a tree, sitting outside of a very familiar window, watching the red-headed fox doing some homework, and then, as it was raining, I knocked on the suspiciously closed window, asking for access that was granted with a smile … …

With my back pressed against

The weight of the world,

And the speed of the night,

It felt as though a thread were snapping in two,

And I held onto you, held onto you

Held onto you, With all my might!

Running through the darkness, Hiei made his way towards Kurama's house; for some reason, he _needed_ to go and see the kitsune, just to stop and look at him for even a minute. And actually, there was a reason, it's just the han-koorime would never, ever admit it; he was a bit worried about our favorite fox-turned-human, because the feeling he had in his dream had only been replicated once. That was when Kurama had been fighting in the dark tournament, and was unconscious on his feet after fighting Touya; he couldn't feel the fox's energy at all, and he didn't like it. He just had to see for himself that the fox was fine, and then he would go back to the forest and be able to sleep…

Making it to the kitsune's room, he cloaked his ki and landed soundlessly in the tree outside his room, looking through the glass of the window. Kurama was indeed fine; well, at least he was breathing, and his eyes were open. He was sitting up, staring at the wall across from him, breathing harshly, as if having just woken up from a nightmare…and strangely enough, Hiei wanted nothing more than to hold him, hold him with everything he had, and make whatever it was alright again…

As you share an unbalanced kiss with me

I hope that you feel us growing closer to love.

And may fears and your tearful deceptions

Would come to rest in my heart

Suddenly, Kurama felt a small amount of ki, coming towards him, and heard a light tapping on his window. Turning towards the sound, he already knew who it was; he hadn't seen Hiei in a very long while. Standing after he gathered his wits about him, he walked to the window and opened it, though didn't have to unlock it; it already was. He just closed it because he didn't think that Hiei would be coming so late at night. Blinking once, the red head moved out of the way and the black haired jaganashi entered. Remembering his dream, the fox had to be sure that this was real; he didn't want to see Hiei crying; he wanted to know if the han-koorime had been. Reaching out hesitantly, his pale hand landed on the white scarf that was on the smaller yokai's shoulder. As if the tension was somehow broken in that gesture, Kurama pulled the smaller into an embrace, surprised to find it slowly returned. Finally, a gentle kiss was placed on the fire yokai's lips, as the fox thought, _I hope you can feel my love_ …

Oh my love!

MnS: Yeah - _completely_ OOC .. And I forgot I wrote this chapter and never posted it … _last x-mas_ …

KnH: She's kind of out of her writing binge for some reason … --'

MnS: :P You know perfectly well that it's because I wrote the chapter, but I can't find it now to type it up, and I'm being stubborn and refuse to write it again… .

KnH: Yes; you _are_ stubborn…

MnS: :P Anyway, I'm still looking for the next chapter, so, never fear; _eventually_ I'll put it up … .

Footnotes:

1 - it's 'tapping on your window' in the Japanese Version…


End file.
